Andrew Sachs: Fawlty Towers' Manuel dies aged 86

Administrator.Administrator

Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, who played hapless Spanish waiter Manuel in the BBC sitcom, has died aged 86, his family has confirmed.
Sachs, who had been suffering from dementia for four years, died on 23 November and was buried on Thursday.
On his role of Manuel, the actor had told the BBC in 2014: "It was just a part I was playing and people seemed to laugh."
His Fawlty Towers co-star John Cleese paid tribute to him as "a delight".
Obituary: Andrew Sachs
Manuel was one of the most imitated comedy characters of the 1970s.
The waiter, who famously hailed from Barcelona, often said little more than the word "Que?" to generate laughs, but arguably his most famous line was "I know nothing".
The waiter was regularly shown being hit by Cleese's hotel manager character, Basil Fawlty.
"I never got upset when he hit me," Sachs said in 2014.
"He's my friend, I must say yes, yes [it hurt], several times, more than once."
Cleese, 77, who was also the co-creator of Fawlty Towers, paid tribute to Sachs in an interview with the BBC.
He described his co-star as "a very nice, sweet man and just a brilliant farceur".
Cleese added: "He was just a delight, and if you met him, you'd never for a moment think he was a comedian.
"You'd think he was a bank manager, possibly retired. But then you stuck that moustache on him and he turned into a completely different human being."
Sachs, who was born in Berlin in 1930 but fled Germany for London in 1938, had dozens of other acting roles, both serious and comic - including stints in TV's two biggest soaps.

Regular.Supporting Member

I went to the Ramblas in Barcelona about 10 years ago and there is a restaurant in the middle of the street served by a waiter who was dressed as Manuel. He played the part well going up to people and saying Que and I am from Barcelona.
How good is that to be imitated by the very people you are portraying on TV, they obviously liked him!